Hello,
Well, as everyone has seemingly recieved and used their new uMBP's and found a varying degree of problems, or concerns, I feel that it is time for a no problem review.
To start, I ordered a 15" 3.06 w/500gb 5400 and 4 gb of memory. For everyone who questions why a 5400 over a 7200, heat, and noise were considerations coupled with the fact that i use external firewire 800 drives for FCP, thus I feel that the drive is more than adequate.
This review is going to be broken into five parts
1)Breakdown 2) Performance 3) Pros 4) Cons 5) Conclusion
1) Breakdown:
This is the third 15" apple laptop i have owned, but the first in five years, as i moved to a desktop and then to a macbook for portability. The last 15" i had was the powerbook g4 1.5 ghz, which was amazing, the screen was beautiful and such. Now taking this machine out of its sleek packaging was like magic, holding it for the first time was special, it is smooth, well rounded and a pleasure to touch and feel. Opening up the computer I saw the familiar keyboard, same as macbook orig but with even better keys and much tighter, which for me is worth a $$$. I turned on the machine, not a single dead pixel, it did the welcome thing and bam, i was off to the races, just itching to optimize. First optimizations I always choose is to calibrate the screen, followed with the trackpad and then of course energy settings. The screen was a cinch thanks to all on Macrumors forums for their display profiles that actually help enhance the screen, not that it needs enhancing(resolution please). The trackpad was the sticky part, i was lost, initially, but after a few minutes(okay maybe an hour) I was comfortable and actually found myself loving the trackpad more than any previous mac I have owned/used. A couple of energy things i do, first off, attached to a cable, i never sleep my machine, just let the display sleep, I absolutely hate backlit keyboards and this is one negative i found, the last powerbook g4 laptop backlit keyboard was a lot, lot better in the backlit department, but mostly i hate the waste of power. Installed my apps, and have been using the machine for two weeks now, so hence the next part.
2) Performance:
First, WOW, apple really hit a home run here, this has to be the fastest laptop(apple or pc) that i have ever used or owned, it simply owns the speed and performance department, and i mean owns. Smooth opening of all ilife applications, quick FCP optimization and utilization. Just to give a performance benchmark(totally unofficial, using my desktop(orig DP 2.0 G5 with less memory) and my new baby.
Final Cut Pro Render Test: I used a 5 minute video shot with a Canon GL2, DV, five edit points(cuts with transitions, V-Wipe) same on both machines. FCP 6.06, it took my g5 to render i would say about two minutes, not too shabby for a five year old machine, but it took less than a minute on my macbook pro(9600GT) and that simply blew my socks off, i never expected it, but alas it happened.
So in terms of graphics power and performance this machine gets a 5/5, home run
Battery: to be honest i would have loved a express card slot, but i love portability so i chose this machine, instead of buying a prev gen 15" i loved the idea of a 7 hour battery, and i measured its usage this past saturday, I turned the machine on at 10:20 am, and ran it using wifi, higher brightness than i should, no bluetooth, and the occasional song, with pretty consistent internet usage, i had to turn it off at around 5:30 pm, so i pulled a good 7 hours plus with good usage, wow, 5/5
Heat: What heat, i feel it very rarely, I would suggest to people to keep the screen as upright as possible to maximize ventilation, and use it indoors more than outdoors, especially in the summer, but it has performed admirably. 4/5, I always like cold, but it was warm
Noise: Really, I never heard it, nor hear it, no noise, silent as a mouse. 5/5
screen: Viewing angle is superb, colors jump out at me, and it is a pleasure to look at, and the LED is a great addition making it bright and beautiful. 4/5. resolution please
3) Pros:
Beautiful
Powerful
Can handle multiple applications and uses, with minimal fuss, heat, or noise.
Great Battery Life
Great Keyboard
Sound is loud and clear,
Trackpad
perfect combination of power and portability
4) Cons:
Resolution: I expect at least 1080 out of a 15" high end these days, but the color improvement did make up a bit for that
Scratching while typing, if you are wearing a metal watch, you will scratch your machine when typing, that is a con,
they use Intel's T, instead of P for the 3.06, or at least mine, and that sucks
no express card slot/esata option
5) Conclusion:
I love this machine, and would recommend to anyone who needs a good combination of portability and power, i am not arguing for or against a 13" or a 17" that is a personal preference, but for me, the 15" is the perfect portable. I would not recommend buying a 15" without the dedicated graphics option as it is a waste of money(personal opinion) why squander beauty and power, when more is available, but also, the practicality, I believe that a machine with a dedicated graphics card will benefit more from snow leopard than one without, even though i am impressed with the 9400m's performance.
If you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask, I hope that you enjoy this review,
Well, as everyone has seemingly recieved and used their new uMBP's and found a varying degree of problems, or concerns, I feel that it is time for a no problem review.
To start, I ordered a 15" 3.06 w/500gb 5400 and 4 gb of memory. For everyone who questions why a 5400 over a 7200, heat, and noise were considerations coupled with the fact that i use external firewire 800 drives for FCP, thus I feel that the drive is more than adequate.
This review is going to be broken into five parts
1)Breakdown 2) Performance 3) Pros 4) Cons 5) Conclusion
1) Breakdown:
This is the third 15" apple laptop i have owned, but the first in five years, as i moved to a desktop and then to a macbook for portability. The last 15" i had was the powerbook g4 1.5 ghz, which was amazing, the screen was beautiful and such. Now taking this machine out of its sleek packaging was like magic, holding it for the first time was special, it is smooth, well rounded and a pleasure to touch and feel. Opening up the computer I saw the familiar keyboard, same as macbook orig but with even better keys and much tighter, which for me is worth a $$$. I turned on the machine, not a single dead pixel, it did the welcome thing and bam, i was off to the races, just itching to optimize. First optimizations I always choose is to calibrate the screen, followed with the trackpad and then of course energy settings. The screen was a cinch thanks to all on Macrumors forums for their display profiles that actually help enhance the screen, not that it needs enhancing(resolution please). The trackpad was the sticky part, i was lost, initially, but after a few minutes(okay maybe an hour) I was comfortable and actually found myself loving the trackpad more than any previous mac I have owned/used. A couple of energy things i do, first off, attached to a cable, i never sleep my machine, just let the display sleep, I absolutely hate backlit keyboards and this is one negative i found, the last powerbook g4 laptop backlit keyboard was a lot, lot better in the backlit department, but mostly i hate the waste of power. Installed my apps, and have been using the machine for two weeks now, so hence the next part.
2) Performance:
First, WOW, apple really hit a home run here, this has to be the fastest laptop(apple or pc) that i have ever used or owned, it simply owns the speed and performance department, and i mean owns. Smooth opening of all ilife applications, quick FCP optimization and utilization. Just to give a performance benchmark(totally unofficial, using my desktop(orig DP 2.0 G5 with less memory) and my new baby.
Final Cut Pro Render Test: I used a 5 minute video shot with a Canon GL2, DV, five edit points(cuts with transitions, V-Wipe) same on both machines. FCP 6.06, it took my g5 to render i would say about two minutes, not too shabby for a five year old machine, but it took less than a minute on my macbook pro(9600GT) and that simply blew my socks off, i never expected it, but alas it happened.
So in terms of graphics power and performance this machine gets a 5/5, home run
Battery: to be honest i would have loved a express card slot, but i love portability so i chose this machine, instead of buying a prev gen 15" i loved the idea of a 7 hour battery, and i measured its usage this past saturday, I turned the machine on at 10:20 am, and ran it using wifi, higher brightness than i should, no bluetooth, and the occasional song, with pretty consistent internet usage, i had to turn it off at around 5:30 pm, so i pulled a good 7 hours plus with good usage, wow, 5/5
Heat: What heat, i feel it very rarely, I would suggest to people to keep the screen as upright as possible to maximize ventilation, and use it indoors more than outdoors, especially in the summer, but it has performed admirably. 4/5, I always like cold, but it was warm
Noise: Really, I never heard it, nor hear it, no noise, silent as a mouse. 5/5
screen: Viewing angle is superb, colors jump out at me, and it is a pleasure to look at, and the LED is a great addition making it bright and beautiful. 4/5. resolution please
3) Pros:
Beautiful
Powerful
Can handle multiple applications and uses, with minimal fuss, heat, or noise.
Great Battery Life
Great Keyboard
Sound is loud and clear,
Trackpad
perfect combination of power and portability
4) Cons:
Resolution: I expect at least 1080 out of a 15" high end these days, but the color improvement did make up a bit for that
Scratching while typing, if you are wearing a metal watch, you will scratch your machine when typing, that is a con,
they use Intel's T, instead of P for the 3.06, or at least mine, and that sucks
no express card slot/esata option
5) Conclusion:
I love this machine, and would recommend to anyone who needs a good combination of portability and power, i am not arguing for or against a 13" or a 17" that is a personal preference, but for me, the 15" is the perfect portable. I would not recommend buying a 15" without the dedicated graphics option as it is a waste of money(personal opinion) why squander beauty and power, when more is available, but also, the practicality, I believe that a machine with a dedicated graphics card will benefit more from snow leopard than one without, even though i am impressed with the 9400m's performance.
If you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask, I hope that you enjoy this review,
